Mark Cavendish believes a roadside spectator sprayed him with urine during the Tour de France time trial on Wednesday, his team manager said.

Patrick Lefevere of Omega Pharma-Quick Step said it may have been linked to anger among some fans who claimed — unfairly in his view — that Cavendish intentionally bumped into Dutch rider Tom Veelers and caused him to crash in the final sprint a day earlier.

“(Cavendish) explained to the other guys in the bus that the public was not very fair with him, and then somebody put some urine on him,” Lefevere told The Associated Press after the 11th stage.

“We are always happy in cycling that there is no hooliganism, but of course, when there are 100,000 or 200,000 people on the road … somebody had bad behavior,” he added.

After the stage, it did not appear that Cavendish had spoken publicly about it.

The liquid thrown at Cavendish smelled like urine and was “all over him,” team spokesman Alessandro Tegner said. The team didn’t know where it happened on the 20-mile course to Mont-Saint-Michel on the Brittany coast.

Cavendish’s teammate, Jerome Pineau, reacted angrily to the news.

“I’m ashamed when my friend Mark Cavendish tells me that he was jeered and even sprayed with urine,” Pineau said on his Twitter feed. “It’s scandalous.”

So … on to the racing news:

Asheville’s Brent Bookwalter is riding for Team BMC Racing, and sits in 82nd place in the overall standings.

In today’s 11th stage of the 100th Tour de France, riders raced individually against the clock in a time trial, on a scenic route in Normandy over 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) from Avranches to the medieval walled town of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Tony Martin was the winner. The two-time world time trial champion won the stage in 36 minutes, 29 seconds, finishing 12 seconds ahead of race leader Chris Froome, who was the only rider within one minute of the German.

Chris Froome, the British rider, who finished second overall to countryman Bradley Wiggins last year, had a great day and finished with the Yellow Jersey. He extended his overall lead to 3:25 over Spaniard Alejandro Valverde; 3:37 over Dutchman Bauke Mollema and 3:54 over two-time former champion Alberto Contador of Spain.

Thursday’s stage: Stage 12 is the first of two days of flat stages for sprinters, taking the riders on a 218-kilometer (135.5-mile) route from Figures to Tours in the Loire valley, a picturesque region dotted with imposing, ancient chateaux, and vineyards.

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